Sauna Folk exhibition opens in Budapest on 22th September 2017

The sauna is both a sacred and a mundane place for Finns. There are 3.2 million saunas in Finland (whereas only 5.5 million people), which means there are more saunas than cars.

There is a tolerant, non-judgemental climate in the sauna as we are all naked and we all sweat there, either alone or in company.

Jussi Puikkonen's photo series Sauna Folk shows a wide and colorful spectrum of saunas. The sensitivity of his works displays the controversy, ruggedness, diversity, beauty and unevenness of the whole Finnish culture.

Photographer Jussi Puikkonen is natural at capturing the essence of people and scenes. Raised in Finland, now based in Amsterdam, this down-to-earth cosmopolitan effortlessly gets along with everyone from CEO’s to sauna champions.

"Sauna is something I miss from Finland. It also reflects the local mindset where people are treated equally - or at least I wish they could continue to do so - and everyone can appreciate the sauna experience without regard to the social class or the political orientation. “